Our nation’s economic crisis hit especially close to home for me this week as Wachovia — one of the pillars of the Charlotte, N.C. (my office is located just north of this metro area) — joined the ever-growing list of banking casualties by selling its operations and assets. This is a devastating blow to one of America’s fastest-growing cities, a city that had established itself as the country’s No. 2 banking town second only to the Big Apple. The standing joke around these parts has been that the only thing you see more of here than banks are churches. The...

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Dear Security Professional, Welcome to Under Surveillance, the SSI editor's blog! This forum has been created to share thoughts, ideas, news, issues, trends, economics, challenges, anecdotes, technical advice, sales and marketing tips, politics, codes and standards, legislation, training and education, management techniques, and just about anything else related to the vibrant, multifaceted business of security. Under Surveillance is intended to serve as a wide-open and interactive discussion. Your participation is key to achieving the humble goal of fostering intelligent, useful and entertaining dialog. But please refrain from any profanity, promotional posts or derogatory comments about a specific person or company. I intend to update throughout...

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